Most leaders of the attacks on Sierra Leone’s military barracks and prisons arrested as curfew eases

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Sierra Leone’s president says most leaders of attacks on the nation’s main military barracks and prisons have been arrested. The attacks early Sunday surprised residents and security forces in the West African nation and raised fears of a possible coup in a troubled region. President Julius Maada Bio said in a Sunday night address that “calm has been restored.” Coups have surged in West and Central Africa with eight military takeovers since 2020, including in Niger and Gabon this year. West Africa’s regional economic bloc ECOWAS — of which Sierra Leone is a member — described the attacks as a plot “to acquire arms and disturb the peace and constitutional order” in the country.